FeedsLayoffs hit police, fire departments in Romulus
Calling it a difficult decision, Romulus Mayor Alan Lambert issued layoff notices this week to employees in the public safety department.
Like other municipalities across the state, the city is facing a budget deficit and has to trim services, he said. Three police officers and two firefighters will be laid off; the city laid off three other city employees last month.
“While I deeply regret making these cuts and laying off police and fire, the City of Romulus has no choice as we face the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression,” said Lambert, a former police officer.
Romulus faces a $3-million-plus budget hole for the next fiscal year while property values have plunged sharply in the past year, slashing city revenue. The city has also seen a drop in state shared revenue caused by lower sales tax revenue throughout the state. The city has already begun cutting services and projects that will eliminate nearly $1 million in non-payroll costs across the board for the 2010-2011 fiscal year.
The city has also eliminated its wood-chipping services, Fourth of July fireworks, summer music festival, the summer recreation program and other services.
Laying off the three police officers and two firefighters will save $387,692 a year, Lambert said.
Reader comments [32]
why not bring in a minor league ballclub that can help the taxbase or lack thereof
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopInstead of laying them off why doesn’t the city freeze the MERS pension plan they are in and put them in a defined contribution plan. Savings of about 1.2 million first year.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopAny cut in manpower for police and fire will have a direct impact on you, me, and our familes… especially when we have an emergency.
On top of that, the police department generates revenue.
Laying off three less police officers means having three less people to generate revenue for the city.
Revenue is generated by “little” crimes and infractions, which means that less time will be spent on these things because there are greater priorities that need to be addressed.
The more you stretch manpower, the more time has to be spent on more serious issues… and less time on our problems that aren’t as serious…. and substantially less revenue generation.
Therefore, laying off police causes more problems than it prevents.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopIn a separate interview the mayor said the city would just hire more on-call firefighters.
Since on-call and full-time firefighters have same training, why not use them to save money.
Many large cities in MI (Novi, Troy, Riverview) make extensive use of NON-full-time firefighters, time we do the same.
The police department generates revenue at taxpayers expense. EXCESSIVE TICKETS! The more they write the more they fatten their MERS pension. There is a method to the madness.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopDrowning Taxpayer:
I am not too familiar with this “MERS” pension plan that you seem to have a personal issue with. However, your post prompted me to do research on “ticket quotas,” and I found that Michigan Law prevents officers from receiving direct financial compensation from writing tickets. The money may go into a general fund, which benefits the city as a whole. Writing tickets saves jobs, but the officer does not receive a financial reward for every ticket they write. If that were the case, I do not think I would have received so many verbal warnings over the years.
I have an easy fix for your issue with “excessive tickets.” If everyone simply would follow the law, they would not have to be held accountable for their infractions. Avoiding the police is very easy if you do nothing wrong. To suggest that the police are too overbearing with “excessive ticketing” is much like a drug addict that complains about being harassed by the police with “excessive arrests.”
If my children are safer because people are too scared to speed through my neighborhood, I have no problem whatsoever if the city makes money off of people’s careless driving.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopConcerned Citizen:
Good job researching the facts. It is good to see somebody with some common sense!
Concerned Citizen sounds like either a city official or a relative of one , and come on , a 5% pay cut ? is it even going to be noticeable after they are put in a lower tax bracket because of it ? why not make the mayor and the city council members jobs on – call ? what the hell are they doing to deserve their pay ?
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopPaid on call vs full time firefighters. HMMM well for one the city is to busy in run volume and traffic to once again rely on a strictly paid on call/volunteer force. Full time fire fighters are in the station ready to go. In this day and age who would have time to respond to all the calls that our fire departments responds on. I do not know the exact numbers but I have sat on a committee and they run almost over double the runs they did when their was a paid on call force. Mr Gray do your research the City of Troy does not run medical calls and both Riverview and Novi have staffed people. I am not saying to not layoff but there has to be some fulltime fireman to respond. The police also need to respond. The millage vote is strictly up to you. Just know the facts. The City of Romulus is beyond a paid on call force. I want response to be now and not later.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopFor one Mr Grey paid on call and full time fire fighters DO NOT have the same training in Romulus. There are no Paramedics on the Paid on call ranks. The fulltime staff has over 9 Paramedics. Their are paid on call fire fighters who are only Fire I trained. The full time fire fighters are all FFII State licensed and Haz Mat Operations. Their are Paid on call fire fighters that are only Medical First Responders. They are not even at the EMT level. Know your facts before you compare. There is nothing wrong with paid on call fire fighters but when you compare them to what protects the City of Romulus on a 24/7 basis know your facts or ask the person who is feeding you the Information to know them. You will be stripping the residents of quality medical care on your plan.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopO.k. first and foremost I ask that people educate themselves on the topics which they post comments on. This doesn’t mean from your neighbor, who heard from a cousin who knows someone who said it, so it must be true. If you are taking the time to post then take the time to learn. Go to City Hall ask the hard questions, stop and talk to your police officer, and hit up the Firefighters, or stop by DPW. Second, the police cars we now have were purchased with drug forfeiture money, not money from the general fund. Some may have been slotted for replacement thru capitol outlay monies, but the last group was thanks to drug dealers that our cops busted. Third, our DPW workers do a good job in this city, support them and it will come back 10 fold in service that occurs in the background that usually goes unnoticed. Forth our Fire department is an untapped resource, we have 15 full-time guys and we will lose 7 after Aug 9th. What does this mean? Well let me tell you. It means that when you call 911 for your house being on fire only 2 firemen will show up, and depending on where you live you might be lucky and your house might get saved. Fire doubles in size every 30 seconds. How far do you live from your STAFFED fire station? How big will your fire be by the time the 2 fireman are able to get to you? Do you know what the average response time will be after the layoffs, easily between 8-10 minutes? Per the American Red Cross and The American Heart Association your chance of survival from a heart attack decreases 7-10% every minute you go untreated. So even if you’re on the phone with 911 when you go into cardiac arrest at best you have a 20% chance of living thru the event. Did you know that surrounding cities only charge the citizens what the insurance company will pay when the fire department transports a citizen to the hospital, but because Romulus Fire Department does not transport you get billed almost double by a private Ambulance Company. Not to mention if that money was returning to the city it would free up available funds for the city because the fire department would be somewhat self sufficient. Special cases can be made for people on fixed incomes and seniors where now the private company bills and if you don’t pay you end up in collection. Bottom line hope the millage passes otherwise check your insurance policies and hope you are never in the need for a police officer, a firefighter, your street shoveled or a paramedic.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopHear are the questions that we should be asking the Mayor and Elected.
• What is the communities’ expectation of how many minutes will pass from the time a
call is received reporting an emergency to the time that a fire engine or ambulance arrives?
• Does the fire department have a response time goal? How close is it to expectations? What factors went into setting the goal, such as fire loss data, areas of greater fire hazard and water supply? Has this goal been
adopted and published by the community’s elected leaders?
• What percentage of the time does the fire department meet that goal right now?
• Are there areas where there are frequently longer response times? Which parts of the community are not within four minutes drive time of a fire station? What about within five minutes? Does the fire department
use GIS (computer mapping) to evaluate current and future station locations?
• How long does it take for firefighters to get on the road once they are notified they have an alarm?
• What statistical reports does the fire agency produce on its response time performance and the extent of local fire losses and potential exposures that are covered? How do you make these reports available to the public?
• What is the department’s goal for staffing for a fire/rescue response?
• What percentage of the time do they meet that staff goal? Does each engine and ladder company have four firefighters? Can the department muster between 12 to15 firefighters at a fire within 10 minutes of an
alarm? (This is the recommended standard)
• What role do simultaneous calls play in response times and staffing? If there is a medical call, how many firefighters are available for a fire alarm or additional EMS call?
• How many calls did the department handle 10 years ago and how many in the last
year? What kind of growth has the community experienced and how have staffing levels
changed to address those changes?
• What level of service does the department provide for fire prevention, public education, fire investigation, technical rescue, hazardous materials, and disaster planning?
How does the department measure performance in these areas?
• Are your physical resources adequate, including fire stations, training facilities, fire apparatus, and personal protective safety equipment to meet the level of risk in the community? Do you have adequate training and personnel safety programs? What’s the plan to pay for repair or replacement of fire
apparatus?
• What is the community’s ISO rating for fire protection and building code enforcement? Have these ratings changed? If money was spent to improve fire department services, how much of that money would come back to the taxpayers in increased safety and insurance premiums?
All too often elected officials cut critical emergency services in a vacuum under the guise of saving money. They fail to consider the increased risk to the safety of residents, property loss, and increased insurance costs to taxpayers. As municipalities decrease emergency services paid for by taxpayers, there is no decrease in taxes. Many times there are additional costs in insurance premiums and other fees.
It is imperative that we continue to raise these questions to our city. We need to educate taxpayers about emergency services, how they are delivered, and ensure that decisions made by politicians on the delivering these vital services are open and factual.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopBob, actually I’m neither… but I will suggest that you should attack my points rather than resort to an ad hominem dismissal about something that would make no difference even if it were true, sir. If your least favorite person in the world claimed that 2+2=4, he would be correct no matter how you feel about said individual.
CC
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopI must say that the 2 articles by Bigtimeheat has really confused me now. I have been keeping up with the millage articles and these 2 comments really focused on the Fire Department and things that the basic citizen wouldnt even think about asking, and this includes me. Things like ISO Rating? What or who does this? Then the facts about response times, runs, fire codes, and maybe some house fires may be saved or not saved. This has to be one of the fire fighters that has received a layoff slip from the City. Is this a scare tactic to save your job? I never saw any articles where a specific layoff date was given. In your comment you have August 9th. The articles I saw said after the August 3rd vote that the employee’s will be layed off.. As a 12 year resident here I hardly ever see our Fire Fighters in the community. Why is this? Yet you put over 10 bullets points for citizen concerns. How many potential layed off fire fighters live in Romulus? Or the cops? Everyone acts like this is the only City to lay off Cops and Firemen.It seems your comments were meant to bombard City Hall with safety questions to save jobs. My main question is (1) will there still be staffed firehouses? (2)Do all Cities around us “muster” 12-15 firemen within 10 minutes like you state.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to Topdo you work for the city you can belive your lies we don’t
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopMr. Miller
As an employee who received a layoff notice I will attempt to answer some of your questions.
First the Fire Department has received seven layoff notices total. The first scheduled layoff is to occur on June 30, 2010 and a second scheduled layoff on July 3, 2010. Five additional layoffs will occur on August 9, 2010. The Romulus Fire Department currently has fifteen fulltime members which work eight separate 12 hour shifts. This allows the city to staff two of the four stations with two firefighters each. The staffed stations are located at 7221 Middlebelt and 37230 Northline. They responded to over 3,000 calls for service.
If the department staffing is cut to eight as the layoff notices state the city could only staff one of the four stations with two firefighters. The most centralized station is located at 7221 Middlebelt with the most immediate access to the freeway.
There are currently nine out of fifteen fulltime employees living within the city. Thirteen out the fifteen have lived in the City of Romulus at some point.
How many firefighters do we muster in ten minutes? On a recent structure fire it took over twenty minutes from the time of call to muster eight firefighters from all four stations both fulltime and paid on call. The two fulltime staffed stations arrived within ten minutes of the call.
As to accusing Bigtimeheat of being an employee whom has received a layoff notice it is probably more accurate to assume he or she is an informed tax payer.
If you have not had to use the Fire Department that is a good thing it means you have not become ill or injured requiring EMS care nor has your house caught fire. Not using our service is a good thing. When people call the Fire Department it usually involves that party having one of worst days of their life and we do our best to limit the damage that event causes.
In closing though my layoff may cause an inconvience to me in the short term the citizens of Romulus will feel the consequences of such a drastic change in services far longer. This is not scare tactics it is simply the truth.
I would strongly promote a YES vote on August 3, 2010; however if an individual has to make the decision between the utilities being kept on or paying the increase in taxes you have a tough decision.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopMr. Miller
I am a fulltime Lieutenant here on the Fire Department and I also oversee the Community relations for the Fire Chief. In regards to your comment about not hardly seeing the firefighters in the community, I would like to add that indeed we are out there as much as we can be. The duty crews cover the Romulus little league games and High School Football. The Crews have also installed over 30 smoke detectors to Romulus households this year. We do stand by’s for numerous events, like walks, picnics, church groups, company open houses. For the pumpkinfest we do 3 days with a saftey trailer that instucts kids how to get out of a burning house. The Fire Dept also provides fire prevention education to all our elementary schools. Twice a year you can see us on the streets raising funds for mUscular Dystrophy and Goodfellows. These are just a few of the things that we have done. We welcome everybody’s comment on this topic. No one person is right or wrong. I just had to add mine because we are in the public. It could just be that you are not at the same events as we appear at.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopNo, I’m not an employee affected by the layoffs. I’ve said before, and will say again, if you don’t have the conviction of your belief to use your name on postings, your point is moot. Yes, I am slightly aware of ISO ratings, because when I moved to Romulus, we had a paid-on-call dept, and had discussions with my AAA agent. My home insurance went down when we became a “staffed” fire dept – because it affected the citys’ ISO rating. You can bet your rates will be affected if we go back in time. As a cardiac patient, I have come to know our firemen, and appreciate all they do for us. The dpw, fixing water main breaks in the middle of the night on Thanksgiving night, the police helping my child when involved in an accident….grow up. These services cost money. If you don’t want to pay the price to live in a democratic community, perhaps a move to Arizona might be more suitable…???
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopRobert , just because YOU feel that a comment posted on here without a name has no merit, more people than you , or the city employees, disagree, because, they are being read. As for your insurance rates actually going down, please post the name of your agent, because I’m sure 99% of Romulus residents would like to do business with a company that actually lowers rates instead of raising them . So Romulus needs more money to operate ? Let’s start with a real pay cut , from the top down, no more raises for elected officials, until our home values have become worth more than a new car. The schools in this city have become a major joke. And what is this i am reading about hazardous waste deep-injection wells , where are Lambert’s or any of the administrations objections to this ? Lambert raised hell and thumped his chest over the airport issue , where the hell are his comments now ?After this , the city and its employees want the homeowner to dig just a little deeper , so they can live the way they think they should ? I think not, want more money ? get a second job. And to all the anonymous posters on here, keep posting , myself and most of the other people who are paying the bills in this city could care less if your name is on there . the threats and attempted bullying are not going to work this time
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopI agree with you Tim. There are many issues here. Our homes are going downhill. Taxes are going up. My insurance isnt going down and since the City became a fulltime fire deptarment, I have not seen any difference. I understand the need of Emergency services but others are losing jobs and if we have to lose a few City Employees in each Department so be it. I do not know how many Employees the City of Romulus employees but I am sure it is over 150. Many of us are out of work or wokring 2 jobs to make ends meet.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopTim: I didn’t make any threats or bully anyone. The insurance company is AAA, group service dept.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopThis City is really becoming a big joke. Why dont we get some new people to run the different departments at City Hall to straighten things out. The City just wants to scare the seniors into thinking there will be no police or fire services. how can a city this size not find funds to have some response. There is an airport here also you know.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopThe majority of the police and fire fighters do nothing but benefit from the taxpayers and want more. It’s funny now that you sure see the fireman out there in the public trying to get that “yes” vote, yet before You didnt see many of them. I have a relative that lives in the Senior building and the City brought them free food to get there “yes” vote and the fireman were telling them that they may not be around in August to be there for them. Come on free food and propaganda? What is next. There will still be police and fire services if this millage does not pass. Losing some of the salaries for awhile isnt all that bad. Wake up people. Watch your vote.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopThis is all the more reason to vote no. Politics as usual. The taxpayers’ dollars wasted on this event could have been used to keep an officer or firefighter on the payroll for another week.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopMadtaxpayer,
Perhaps you should watch the local news broadcasts more closely. I did not see you pulling hose at the apartment fire at Concord apartments or extricating patients from a rollover MVA involving five patients or the other quickly approaching almost 4000 calls we will respond to this year. If you want to vote NO that is your right as a voter. However do not speak about what you do not know and that is doing the job of a police or firefighter.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopHow come the same people always speak about support of the millage on how great our services are. There is no question that we have adequate to great police and fire services. There are going to be possible layoffs, not total disabandement of City services. People talk about multiple calls this and that. If they are on multiple calls and another call comes in they are still busy. Also the elderly lady who read about the police and fire dept. It was nice of the fire or police to give you that script to read. Vote NO
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopSo I take it you are a fire fighter here. Well congrats for pulling the hose on a fire, and extricating someone from a car and responding to almost 4000 calls . Oh thanks for doing what you get paid to do. You say I do not know what I am talking about. So the City didnt give the Seniors free food to help them vote, or I didnt see the firemen come to my door talking about the millege and talking how they may not be here if the v0te is “no”… With your response I am ashamed that my taxes pay for your snotty atitude. Good professionalism you show.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopWell hopefully this makes it before the election. People realize what your vote does if it passes and somehow the economy turns around and the $150 becomes $300 because of your house values going up. How did this City over spend? Well it hired friends, and kept people’s jobs that should not have. Employees who screwed up on our dollars and kept jobs. Why? This City will learn to survive with some layoffs as everyone else does. Be smart, if the millage passes then our Union employees keep their benefits and high pay.
Add a Comment | Link to This | Back to TopConcerned Citizen:
I think you miss the obvious.
Don’t you understand that the police force isn’t in place to generate revenue, that is not their function. Their function is to to police the city.
We don’t need more taxes to get more cops pulling people over to generate revenue. Who would want to be in Romulus if the police force is in place to just squeeze your wallet.
We need to generate revenue by improving our city and making it a place where people want to invest and grow business and make people want to live here making a bigger homeowner base.
Romulus wouldn’t have to generate revenue by pulling people over they would have more tax payers here to do that in the first place.
John Volarie,
I do not miss the obvious, you are badly mistaken. Did I not submit that our streets will be less safe with less officers?
My point about revenue generation was a slam against city hall, not the citizens:
Less police officers = more work = lower morale/productivity = less self-initiated police work = less enforcement of petty offenses (fines) = less money for the city.
Now for the citizen: Less police officers = more attention to priority crimes (serious felonies) = less focus on your minor needs (larcenies and minor complaints).
People squeeze their own wallets. The police do not enforce laws that you do not break! If you get caught speeding on Eureka, you were speeding on Eureka. It is what it is.
Oh well, you could have prevented it.
By complaining about the police “squeezing your wallet,” you are really negating your statement that “their function is to police the city.”
When you get a ticket for rolling a stop sign, the police are serving their function… And your punishment is paying money.
Do you have a problem with people paying monetary fines for offenses they knowingly/neglectfully commit? Or maybe you feel that people should be able to drive however they please in the same neighborhood your kids play in?
Describe to me (by using examples) what you feel that police work is? How does a police officer “police” the city?
CC
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